COFFEE LAKE HACKINTOSH Plex/Nas Server/Workstation BUILD 7.5.18
i7 8700 / Asus H370M Prime Plus/CSM / MSI RX 560
EFI : http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=21353942023901734237
geekbench scores:
single core: 5747
multiple core: 26186
DESCRIPTION
===========
This build is for a NAS/server/workstation hackintosh build. This machine has been on 24/7 runs 10.13.5 with Plex server and is also used as a workstation with adobe creative suite, Lightroom and several other video and photo tools. This build has been rock solid stable and everything is working as expected for the past couple of weeks. Since the machine is a server and is on all the time, I cannot vouch for its reliability in sleep/wake.
SOFTWARE
========
* OSX High Sierra 12.13.15
* Plex Server
* Surveillance software - using evocam
* Docker which will run containers for:
* Web server
* ftp server
* Virtualized OSX in Parallels (2nd osx install connected by VPN for torrent & newsgroups)
* Virtualized Windows and Linux in virtualBox for testing
* Scripts to automatically transcode video files in designated watch folders
* Automatic backup data to a Synology NAS using Deja Vu
HARDWARE
=========
* BluRay burnet - for burning hardcopies of photos/videos
* 2.5/3.5 harddrive dock for backing up OS clones to quickly restore images
* Boot SSD - Primary boot drive
* Single large storage drive for NAS & Plex
* Supports black magic Intensity capture card
* DUAL ethernet ports for a direct connect port w/o exposure to the outside network.
PARTS LIST ($1450 at 7.5.18)
============================
* $69.99 EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G3 : https://amzn.to/2KOu016
* $299 Intel BX80684I78700 8th Gen Core i7-8700 Processor : https://amzn.to/2KPSfsy
* $59.99 CORSAIR HYDRO SERIES H55 AIO Liquid CPU Cooler : https://amzn.to/2Ntcv5d
* $96.90 ASUS Prime H370M-Plus/CSM LGA1151 (300 Series) DDR4 HDMI DVI VGA M.2 mATX Motherboard : https://amzn.to/2KMQyiY
* $149.99 MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 : https://amzn.to/2J1qnQQ
* $44.43 Intel I210-T1 Network Adapter : https://amzn.to/2IWyY6Y
* $174.99 Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 2666MHz : https://amzn.to/2IXIXcq
* $50.37 LG Electronics 14x SATA Blu-ray Internal Rewriter : https://amzn.to/2lUw0H6
* $99.99 Silverstone Tek Micro-ATX TJ08B-E : https://amzn.to/2KP0rcB
* $28.71 StarTech.com USB 3.0 Internal Multi-Card Reader : https://amzn.to/2u7B1jy
* $16.99 Kingwin Universal Hot Swap Mobile Rack For 2.5” or 3.5” SSD/HDD : https://amzn.to/2KRoKH4
* $6.50 ARCTIC F12 Silent - Ultra-Quiet 120 mm Case Fan : https://amzn.to/2MQpfBz
* $109 Crucial MX500 500GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD : https://amzn.to/2KJhwIe
* $210 Seagate Bare Drives 8TB Barracuda : https://amzn.to/2NtxG6Z
* $3.87 120mm Fan Grill : https://amzn.to/2zfMLpY
* $7.99 Sabrent 2.5 Inch to 3.5 Inch Internal Hard Disk Drive Mounting : https://amzn.to/2NteiXZ
* $6.42 XSPC Radiator Screw Set : https://amzn.to/2lTEFd4
* $5.90 5 Pack of 18" Double-Locking SATA cables : https://amzn.to/2IWbBe3
* ? SATA device power switch 4 channel SATA hard drive HDD Power selector Module : https://amzn.to/2MTRlMz
• Black Magic Intensity - this is no longer made and pulled from an old Mac Pro. It works as expected in the new machine
DETAILS
=======
CPU choice: Intel i7-8700
-------------------------
Any Coffee Lake i3, i5, i7 CPU is going to work with macOS High Sierra. I have chosen an i7 8700 since the server may be doing some transcoding in the background and all the extra threads can help. Also it will be running at least one virtual machine which be OSX in Parallels for all activities that will be connected VPN such as torrent and newsgroups. I did look at the i5 8600K as its regarded by some as the best value for performance, but in the end I opted to pay a little more to avoid any special over clocking headaches. The machine will always be on so choosing a non-K CPU would run the CPU at its TDP @ 65 W rather than the 95 W of a K version.
Motherboard: Asus h370M Prime Plus
----------------------------------
H370 chipset is, as of 6/2018, the best chipset for coffee lake if you aren’t overclocking the CPU and Memory. It may even be a step above z370 chipsets in that it supports usb 3.1 gen.2 ports (but OSX may not). It supports a total of 14 USB ports so you won’t have as much limitations or need to be fiddling with USB port mapping like on the b360 and h310 motherboards. The H370 also gives you the ability to set up a RAID 1 or 5 which is something I may explore in the future. I chose the Asus brand board as it has a really nice bios. Right away, the bios detects my Logitech wireless usb keyboard and mouse so hitting a key on boot, which you’ll be doing a lot after setup, just works. (I had problems with an Asrock motherboard previously using the same keyboard/mouse.) Using the mouse in the bios and especially in combination w Asus’s setting search for bios changes, makes setting the bios hackintosh requirements a breeze. I choose the micro ATX sized motherboard because I wanted a case with a small footprint. ITX motherboards were a bit too limited as I wanted to put my black magic HDMI capture card and have a secondary NIC so micro ATX was the smallest I could go. The onboard ethernet works right away with correct kext.files. The onboard audio is the intel 887 which is also supported and works well, however from what I read it is considered to be inferior to other motherboard implementations. I have a dell usb soundbar that I used previously which also worked OOB and already satisfies my requirements.
The onboard video is the intel hd 630. It works pretty well, although not perfect, with high sierra. For anything graphic intensive, I experienced slight glitches during moderate use, however it would probably be usable if this was strictly a server build. I’ll be instead using a MSI RADEON RX 560 PCIe video card for full acceleration.
Graphics card: MSI radeon rx 560
--------------------------------
I chose the radeon rx series because High Sierra appears to support it OOB with correct kext.files installed and it work without a hitch from what I can see. I have run all the standard benchmarks and don’t experience any glitches or other abnormalities at all. The MSI card was one of the cheapest rx 560 versions I could find. Since the build is server and will only do occasional Lightroom and Premiere work, again I choose a non-overclocked card for cooler operation despite an overclocked rx 560 can be gotten for about the same price. I initially tried to get an XFX card working, however on further research, it appeared to be only possible with a bios flash. I opted to skip the headache and just return it and get an MSI card instead. Which worked right away without any extra work. It also doesn’t need an extra power connection which leads me to believe its less power hungry in general than some other rx 560s
CASE: Silverstone Tek Micro-ATX TJ08B-E
----------------------------------------
I chose the Silverstone tj08 mostly for its build quality, small
size, and number of drive bays. I needed 2 5.25 drive bays because I wanted a blu ray and a 3.5/2.5 dock, both for backup purposes. The blu ray player will mostly be for making hardcopies of personal photos and videos. The hard drive dock will be for larger backup jobs like OS restores using clonezilla or alternate boot drives to test new OSes on. I have many extra hard drives laying around and with this I can put them to use without always having them plugged in to save energy. The case also has a 3.5 inch bay on the bottom of the case which I’ll be utilizing for a multicard reader. I’ll be only using it’s sd card slot for my digital camera , the USB port for a bluetooth adapter, and very rarely, the microSD slot for my audio recorder’s memory card.
Cooler: Corsair h55 AIO
-----------------------
I choose the Corsair h55 hydro series cooler for cpu cooling. Water cooling in general is probably overkill for this cpu, however it’s silent operation and very reasonable price make it an attractive alternative to traditional large aftermarket coolers. Also, since I decided on the SilverStone tj-08, it can be a bit cramped with it’s internal hard drive bays filled with a traditional cooler. Water cooling in this specific case makes it much easier to work in and optimizes it’s airflow considerably.
OTHER
-----
EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G3 - it was a reasonably priced gold quality power supply.
Memory Choice : corsair vengeance ddr4 266
USB bluetooth adapter - for wireless headphones
Secondary Ethernet Nic : Intel I210-T1 , Works OOB so no drivers are required
INSTALLATION
============
For this specific hardware combination, install is extremely easy. You’ll need a real Mac to create the boot USB drive though.
In a nutshell here are the steps (more detailed explanation directly follows)
On a real Mac:
1. Download your hackintosh high sierra boot disk of choice
2. Create High Sierra USB Boot Drive
3. Download Clover Configurator to USB Boot Drive
4. Replace EFI on the USB Boot Drive
On the Hackintosh PC:
5. Build
6. Make BIOS modifications
7. Insert Install USB and install
8. On 1st reboot, Disable APFS Conversion
9. Continue Install
10. Replace the EFI on the boot hard drive
11. Reboot & cross your fingers!
Installation Details
--------------------
1. This can be gotten from most hackintosh sites in the downloads section. You may have to make an account,
2. Download High Sierra ,run the boot disk maker, select the UEFI Method and Insert a USB Drive
3. Download the latest clover configurator and place it on the USB drive : https://tinyurl.com/yd2eqtye
4. run clover configurator. Mount the EFI directory of the USB drive and replace with the one provided here (http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=21353942023901734237)
5. Build the PC with parts listed above making sure to use only the black memory slots if you are only using 2 dimms
6. Turn on the PC, press f2 or del to go to bios settings are reset all to defaults. Then click search setting icon and confirm these settings:
* XMP Profile : Auto / Profile 1/Enabled
* VT-d : Disabled (o)
* Fast Boot : Disabled
* Secure Boot : OS Type : Other OS
* Wake on LAN : Disabled
* Network Stack Configuration : Network Stack : Disabled
* USB Configuration : Legacy USB Support : Auto
* Boot → CSM : Disabled
7. Boot with the USB Boot Drive, with the modified EFI the USB Drive should boot with no problem and start installing
8. On the Install Reboot you’ll have to do the following to disable APFS Conversion:
1. Open Terminal through Utilities at the Top Menu Bar once installer finishes loading.
2. cd /Volumes/(your boot drive name)
3. cd "macOS Install Data"
4. vi minstallconfig.xml
5. Use the arrow keys to highlight to the ‘t’ in true
6. Press the DELETE key on your keyboard 4 times to carefully removing t, r, u, e
7. Type i on your keyboard to enter insert mode
8. Type in false
9. Press Esc key
10. Type :wq to save
11. Close Terminal and Restart the computer
9. The install should continue after boot and skip all the iCloud stuff till you get to the desktop.
10. Replace the boot USB and run clover configurator, now you just need to Mount both the EFI folders and copy the one that you used on the boot usb drive and replace the one on the boot hard drive.
11. Reboot and everything should be functioning if you have the hardware combination listed here.
You are welcome in advanced! -superjonbot (dEvAsT!)